Wednesday, January 18, 2012

DC's April previews reviewed

Oh ish. Now that I'm contributing to both Robot 6 and Comic Book Resources and ComicsAlliance, I'm not sure where I should recommend you check out DC's full solicitations for the books they plan to ship in April. Maybe read half of the solicitations at one site, and the other half at the other...?

It looks to me like April's a bit of a blah month—I didn't see much of anything to get excited about, but then, neither did I see much to extremely irritated over. All in all, it looks like some pretty bland offerings, with some fairly exceptional looking Vertigo covers, a few nice piece of art on top of New 52 books and only like three books I'll actually pick up and buy off the shelf.

Anyway:

Come on, Animal Man! Lian Neeson would have made short work of those wolves by now, and he barely has any superpowers.

I wonder how final that cover is. Len Wein's writing credit looks pretty wonky like that; its placement seems to suggest that "DC Universe" wrote the book and Wein drew it...

DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #8Written by DAN DIDIO and JERRY ORDWAYArt by JERRY ORDWAYCover by RYAN SOOKOn sale APRIL 18 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED TAs more and more of the Challengers of the Unknown are killed in action, the remaining few must press ahead on their quest! They have to uncover the secret behind the talismans they’ve been collecting before Ace and the spirits from the Well of Souls can finish the job that started with the plane crash!

Given the performance of DC writer Dan DiDio on The Outsiders and the just-canceled OMAC, the final issue of which is solicited among these, is it surprising that DC co-publisher Dan DiDio keeps giving the guy books to write...?

Black Widow….?

I really like Rafael Grampa's cover to Dominique Laveau, Voodoo Child #2. That is all I have to say about that.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #8Written by GEOFF JOHNSArt by CARLOS D’ANDABackup story art by GARY FRANKCover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS1:25 Variant cover by MIKE CHOI1:200 B&W Variant cover by JIM LEEOn sale APRIL 18 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T...In the five years that the Justice League has been a team, Green Arrow has never once been a member. And he intends to rectify that right here, right now! One member against his candidacy: Aquaman! Plus, in "The Curse of Shazam" part 2, Billy arrives in his new foster home just as an ancient evil is uncovered halfway across the world.

So that the folks at DC were just pulling everyone’s legs when they said this “wasn’t a reboot,” right? Because if the above is to be believed, then not only has the Justice League’s origin changed, so has the bulk of its history. Or, at least, every story featuring Green Arrow (which is most of ‘em, up until about the Detroit Era).

I was really surprised to see Carlos D’Anda on art. His issue of Arkham City I read was illustrated okay, but he’s not exactly who I would think of as someone to fill-in for Lee (Neither is Ha, really, although I used to really like Ha’s work; not so much his recent Flashpoint: Superman series). I assumed Andy Kubert would be the Not Jim Lee DC rolled out every six issues or so.

I wonder if Aquaman is now taking the Fight With Green Arrow role that Hawkman used to fill? I wouldn’t think Aquaman slides as easy into the Stereotypical Conservative role to oppose Green Arrow’s Stereotypical Liberal role as easily as Hawkman or Hal Jordan do, but then, Johns is writing him now, and Johns’ heroes all tend to scan as pretty Republican.

I’m hoping Aquaman says “This team isn’t big enough for two blond pretty boys!” at some point in the script.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #8Written by DAN JURGENSArt by AARON LOPRESTI and MATT RYANCover by DAVID FINCH and RICHARD FRIENDOn sale APRIL 4 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED TThe plan was for the JLI was to be installed as Earth’s official protective team. But once Breakdown attacked, that all came to a swift and sudden end. Now, as the pall of death and injury hang over the team, all that matters is survival. Featuring the introduction of a surprise new team member!

It’s not Batwing is it? Because it’s not much of a surprise when he’s right there on the cover.

SUPERBOY #8Written by SCOTT LOBDELLArt by R.B. SILVA and ROB LEANCover by SHANE DAVISOn sale APRIL 11 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED TWell, that rescue mission didn’t go exactly as planned…and things have only gotten worse for Superboy, as N.O.W.H.E.R.E.’s plans for him and the Teen Titans take a deadly turn! If he wants to keep his head, he’s gonna have to take down another dangerous young metahuman for them: the bruiser once known as Grunge!

Wow, Grunge is keeping his name codename post-reboot?

And he's still got the same tattoo?

SUPERGIRL #8Written by MICHAEL GREEN and MIKE JOHNSONArt by GEORGE PEREZ and BOB WIACEKCover by GEORGE PEREZOn sale APRIL 18 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED TAs the NYPD hunt her down, Supergirl takes refuge with a new friend named Siobhan. While Supergirl may have temporarily escaped her troubles, Siobhan’s are just about to catch up with her: the curse of the Silver Banshee has risen, and this time it’s brought its family with it…Don’t miss this special issue featuring artwork by comics legend George Pérez!

I like the basic design of this cover. I'm pretty surprised to see Perez on art here though; this is at least the third book he's worked on art for since September's reboot...

SUPERMAN: GROUNDED VOL. 1 TPWritten by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI and G. WILLOW WILSONArt by EDDY BARROWS, J.P. MAYER and LEANDRO OLIVEIRACover by JOHN CASSADAYOn sale MAY 9 • 168 pg, FC, $17.99 USTop comics writer J. Michael Straczynski takes Superman on a journey across the U.S., originally presented in SUPERMAN #700-706. After the devastating events of WAR OF THE SUPERMEN, Superman looks to reconnect with the roots of his mission by crossing the U.S. on foot.

Huh. DC seems fairly optimistic that someone out there really wants to read this thing.

And they're publishing it in two volumes! So they think that no only is there at least one person out there who still wants to read "Grounded," the story so bad even the writer couldn't finish it, despite the universal bad word of mouth its gotten, but that the same person will want to read more of it after reading it for themselves!

3 comments:

Some of DC's decisions in regards to paperback collection releases stymie me as much as they do you. Grounded? DCU Legacies? Even the Abnett/Lanning Legion Lost mini coming out in paperback -- I'd think everyone waiting for that one snatched it up in hardcover.

I'm waiting to see how many of those actually make it to print. Like DC cancelling the Generation Lost paperback, I continue to think a lot of these solicitations are test balloons -- DC sends them up to check pre-orders, and if pre-orders aren't at a certain level, the book never gets printed.

Good chance Grunge is headed over to the new Ravagers series. Why they didn't just call it Gen13, I don't know.

The things in her hands. (I like the image, and I'm sure the story will be just fine, based on what I've read of the title so far, it just plays into a particularly persistent portrayal of Wonder Woman as Xena-of-the-DCU instead of the character she was for, like, 40 years or whatever, that I'm not as fond of as the original conception).

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